James,
How do you feel about individual bonus role-playing experience? XP bonuses for "good role-playing." In a lot of games my friends run (and previously my own) we gave these out. I stopped when we began inducting new players that hadn't roleplayed before.
We found the veterans tended to scoop up big RP bonuses, while the less-confident, newer players didn't get as many; often due to their reluctance to open-up and talk to NPCs. While the bonuses motivated them to contribute more, it also felt like it was generating this "elite circle" that always had more experience than the new guys. There was also a little animosity towards players that were ahead in levels.
On a related note; How do you feel about level gaps in reoccurring games (like in an Adventure Path)? What's the maximum gap you'd allow at your table (if any)?
PS - You talking about Ameiko being based on an old Planescape character of yours reminded me of my old Sensate bard who founded an inn in Sigil. I feel like I understand Ameiko better now :P
Creative Director
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
James,
How do you feel about individual bonus role-playing experience? XP bonuses for "good role-playing." In a lot of games my friends run (and previously my own) we gave these out. I stopped when we began inducting new players that hadn't roleplayed before.We found the veterans tended to scoop up big RP bonuses, while the less-confident, newer players didn't get as many; often due to their reluctance to open-up and talk to NPCs. While the bonuses motivated them to contribute more, it also felt like it was generating this "elite circle" that always had more experience than the new guys. There was also a little animosity towards players that were ahead in levels.
On a related note; How do you feel about level gaps in reoccurring games (like in an Adventure Path)? What's the maximum gap you'd allow at your table (if any)?
PS - You talking about Ameiko being based on an old Planescape character of yours reminded me of my old Sensate bard who founded an inn in Sigil. I feel like I understand Ameiko better now :P
If I give out bonus XP to a person in a group for roleplaying, I give it out to the entire party. In the same way if a person one-shots a monster with a critical hit, I give those XP out to the entire party.
Characters who roleplay should be rewarded for getting to roleplay well. And the other players in the group should benefit in the same way that other players who number crunch badass combat machines get them XP for killing monsters fast.
That way, the non-roleplayers come to value the roleplayers in the group the same way the roleplayers value the optimized combat machines.
Individual XP awards are not really a great idea for any game that assumes teamwork.
I'm not a fan of level gaps because it makes it increasingly difficult to plan encounters. In my most recent game, I divide the XP by the total players in the group, regardless of how many showed up at the table, and then everyone gets the XP regardless of whether they showed up, and it's actually working out REALLY pretty well. That said, only giving XP out to those who come to the game is also a good way to reward and encourage attendance, which is also very important. I try to avoid having level gaps go more than 2.
And yeah, the original character was a sensate as well. Her full name was Lavinia Ameiko. Half of her got turned into Ameiko Kaijitsu, but the other half got turned into Lavinia Vanderboren back in Savage Tide.
|
Hi, me again. I am a big carrion crown fan (even though I never played it yet, only bought the AP), do you think you might make another AP in Ustalav or make a AP that is full lovecraft (not just a bit of lovecraft like Carrion crown)???????????(Yes.
I've wanted to a big full-on Lovecraft AP ever since the first one.
And one day it will happen.
Ustalav is a natural location to set some, if not all, of such an AP. I suspect if I do a Lovecraft AP it'll not stay in Ustalav—Lovecraft's stories had lots of travel to exotic locations in them after all.
YAY!!!!!!
Will it include going to regular earth (as Rasputin must die did) and will it have palmar travel (to the dream lands/leng) and planetary travel (to yuggoth)I hope it will
|
Hello Mr. Jacobs,
I am Thierry du Château, reporter from Absalom's Newscroll. I was told to say that i am from a Parallel Golarion where all adventure paths happen in the same time when they are published in your world. Our pricey oracle says that your point of view of the events to come can shine some light in our immediate future, for our readers convenience. So here i come.
1. Do you think the lack of psionic rules affected Iron Gods over the story meant to be told ?
2. How do you feel about the end result with current ruleset and what you would want to add if you have to revisit the scifi theme ?
3. Being Numeria so close to the Worldwound makes you feel that players who played Wraith of the Righteous should improvise something over the status quo post WotR ?
4. Do you foresee status quo of the setting changes as much as WotR after Iron Gods ? (Like Numeria borders openning more, or Silver Mount exploding taking the Countryside with it)
5. Something for ours readers. Any plans for some Absalom action ?
Thanks for the interview. Hope for more scoops in the future.
James,
How do you feel about individual bonus role-playing experience? XP bonuses for "good role-playing." In a lot of games my friends run (and previously my own) we gave these out. I stopped when we began inducting new players that hadn't roleplayed before.We found the veterans tended to scoop up big RP bonuses, while the less-confident, newer players didn't get as many; often due to their reluctance to open-up and talk to NPCs. While the bonuses motivated them to contribute more, it also felt like it was generating this "elite circle" that always had more experience than the new guys. There was also a little animosity towards players that were ahead in levels.
On a related note; How do you feel about level gaps in reoccurring games (like in an Adventure Path)? What's the maximum gap you'd allow at your table (if any)?
PS - You talking about Ameiko being based on an old Planescape character of yours reminded me of my old Sensate bard who founded an inn in Sigil. I feel like I understand Ameiko better now :P
If I give out bonus XP to a person in a group for roleplaying, I give it out to the entire party. In the same way if a person one-shots a monster with a critical hit, I give those XP out to the entire party.
Characters who roleplay should be rewarded for getting to roleplay well. And the other players in the group should benefit in the same way that other players who number crunch badass combat machines get them XP for killing monsters fast.
That way, the non-roleplayers come to value the roleplayers in the group the same way the roleplayers value the optimized combat machines.
Individual XP awards are not really a great idea for any game that assumes teamwork.
I'm not a fan of level gaps because it makes it increasingly difficult to plan encounters. In my most recent game, I divide the XP by the total players in the group, regardless of how many showed up at the table, and then everyone gets the XP regardless of whether they showed up, and it's...
Exactly our current way of thinking. Thank you for making me feel validated! And, as always, for being so accessible.
We went as far as to divide up the bonus relationship xp in Jade Regent among the party, so the low charisma characters didn't feel shorted. It occurred to me that perhaps that system was added to make Charisma more powerful (since it's a common dump stat), but I didn't think individual bonus xp was the way to do that.
|
Creative Director
|
Hi, James!
I'm dying to know the next AP after Giantslayer.
But my question today is another.
How are your campaigns? The last time I asked you were running the Serpent Skull AP, and one in Osirion. And you were playing Skull & shakles and Way of the wicked with a tiefling rogue.
How are your characters? And your players PCs?
Only about 2 weeks to wait for the next AP.
Serpent's Skull AP got cancelled. We were about half-way through book 4. I just ran out of time and energy to run a long Saturday game, alas.
I also cancelled one of the two Osirion games after Sean left and another player in the same group had to bail.
The other Osirion game is still going, although I've not been able to really run it in the last few months at all due to convention stuff taking away my time.
I'm also running a Temple of Elemental Evil game that's just about to reach the actual temple—that game's going strong too.
The Skull & Shackle game ended a few months ago with a TPK (Total Pirate Kill) on the harpoon of Whalebone Pilk. That game has since been replaced by a Mummy's Mask game, wherein I am playing an elven fighter.
Way of the Wicked is going strong too. Just hit 8th level and played last night, in fact. The character there is actually a tiefling bard, not a rogue.
|
Creative Director
|
Hi, me again. I am a big carrion crown fan (even though I never played it yet, only bought the AP), do you think you might make another AP in Ustalav or make a AP that is full lovecraft (not just a bit of lovecraft like Carrion crown)???????????(Yes.
I've wanted to a big full-on Lovecraft AP ever since the first one.
And one day it will happen.
Ustalav is a natural location to set some, if not all, of such an AP. I suspect if I do a Lovecraft AP it'll not stay in Ustalav—Lovecraft's stories had lots of travel to exotic locations in them after all.
YAY!!!!!!
Will it include going to regular earth (as Rasputin must die did) and will it have palmar travel (to the dream lands/leng) and planetary travel (to yuggoth)
I hope it will
Doubtful. There's plenty of Lovecraft going on already on Golarion that I want to cover.
|
Creative Director
|
Hello Mr. Jacobs,
I am Thierry du Château, reporter from Absalom's Newscroll. I was told to say that i am from a Parallel Golarion where all adventure paths happen in the same time when they are published in your world. Our pricey oracle says that your point of view of the events to come can shine some light in our immediate future, for our readers convenience. So here i come.
1. Do you think the lack of psionic rules affected Iron Gods over the story meant to be told ?
2. How do you feel about the end result with current ruleset and what you would want to add if you have to revisit the scifi theme ?
3. Being Numeria so close to the Worldwound makes you feel that players who played Wraith of the Righteous should improvise something over the status quo post WotR ?
4. Do you foresee status quo of the setting changes as much as WotR after Iron Gods ? (Like Numeria borders openning more, or Silver Mount exploding taking the Countryside with it)
5. Something for ours readers. Any plans for some Absalom action ?
Thanks for the interview. Hope for more scoops in the future.
1) No.
2) I think it worked out pretty well.
3) No. The themes of those two APs don't really mesh all that well.
4) No.
5) Not anytime soon.
Q: James, what is the "Sandpoint's rivers" easter egg?What about your favorite easter egg hidden in Paizo products?Sandpoint's rivers.There are 2 waterways in Sandpoint. One's named Boggy Creek, a nod to one of my favorite Bigfoot movies/legends. The other one is the Turandarrok River, which is a portmanteau of the two main characters from one of my favorite comic book series (Turok and Andar from Turok: Son of Stone).
There's several other easter eggs in Sandpoint, in fact, most of which are Point Arena (my hometow) easter eggs. Including:
The name "Schooner Gulch."
The presence of a theater in a small town.
Junk Beach.
The sign with the mirror welcoming folks to Sandpoint but asking visitors to see themself as Sandpoint sees them.
Hah! Have you been over to Schooner Gulch to look around? Some of the seal fossils I have studied are from there. I think some good marine mammal fossil have come from Point Arena and environs.
I like them both, frankly. They're both really compelling and interesting ways to explore the unknown. And for what it's worth...
** spoiler omitted **Thing with "At the Mountains of Madness" is that it is very much NOT a subtle story. It's DEEPLY rooted in the physical. It's my...
So a question regarding True Detective:
Do you have an opinion on the theory that Detective Hart's wife and family were in the Hastur Cult? That his daughter was sexually abused as part of the rituals, and that his wife slept with his partner basically to just break up the "team", preventing the investigation to go further? Hart of course never caught on because he never really payed much attention to his family.
|
Creative Director
|
Burnt othur fumes are an awesome poison. What's othur though? Is it a plant, a creature? Googling has helped me naught and the books don't actually describe any of the poisons fluff-wise.
They're poison, that's what! Don't breathe that!
One of the design philosophies of the original 3rd edition rules, and one I very much did not agree with and argued against during the alpha for 3rd edition (but obviously lost said argument) was the decision that "D&D is set in a fantasy setting and as such the diseases and poisons should be fantasy diseases and fantasy poisons." Which on one layer is fine, but when you're presenting sample diseases and poisons without any flavor text whatsoever as raw rules is really pretty dull.
But that's why in 3rd edition all the diseases have made up names like "slimy doom" and "filth fever" and aren't real-world diseases like "bubonic plague" or "leprosy." The same thing went with poisons.
So... just as there was never really any description of what the actual symptoms of diseases like filth fever or slimy doom were, we never got descriptions of what othur is and why when you burn it, it gets poison.
The fact that we didn't fix this problem when we were pulling the poisons and diseases into the Core Rulebook is unfortunate, but they were among the last parts of the book that went in and by that point we were running short on both time and space. The idea was that at some point we'd clarify them in a campaign setting book... but since these things have been a part of the game for over a decade now, they've kinda slipped again and again through the cracks.
For what it's worth, I've always thought of othur as a powder distilled from numerous different poisonous plants and ground together that remains inert until it is burnt.
|
Creative Director
|
Hah! Have you been over to Schooner Gulch to look around? Some of the seal fossils I have studied are from there. I think some good marine mammal fossil have come from Point Arena and environs.
Cool!
Schooner Gulch road connects the coast to the ridge road up on the mountain where I grew up, actually; the road connects up to the main ridge road about a mile from where my parents house is. I've been down and up the road a lot in my time, and have visited the beach at the bottom plenty (and got to see a friend of my friend's brother start a stupid big driftwood fire on the beach during a party one night that resulted in the fire department talking to us all...). Never went looking for fossils there, though.
|
Creative Director
|
I like them both, frankly. They're both really compelling and interesting ways to explore the unknown. And for what it's worth...
** spoiler omitted **Thing with "At the Mountains of Madness" is that it is very much NOT a subtle story. It's DEEPLY rooted in the physical. It's my...
So a question regarding True Detective:
Spoiler:Do you have an opinion on the theory that Detective Hart's wife and family were in the Hastur Cult? That his daughter was sexually abused as part of the rituals, and that his wife slept with his partner basically to just break up the "team", preventing the investigation to go further? Hart of course never caught on because he never really payed much attention to his family.
Well... first off...
ANYway.
I don't think that his daughter and wife were in on the cult at all. If anything, the influence of Carcosa as Hart and Rust got more and more involved in it started to seep into their lives and influence those they loved... more like you'd see a disease work than an actual cult.
|
James could you comment on this homebrew team work feat.
New Feat
Side by Side
Category Team Work
You and your partner or animal companion have mastered the art of Side by Side fighting.
Benefit: when you and your partner who also as this feat [this would also include your animal companion] are Side by side facing an opponent. The Opponent gains the Flanked condition.
You gain +2 to hit vs. your opponent +4 if you have the Out flank feat. Whenever you or your companion score a critical hit against the flanked target the other gains an opportunity attack vs. the flanked target.
Prerequsites: +4 BAB, Out Flank
Hi, me again. I am a big carrion crown fan (even though I never played it yet, only bought the AP), do you think you might make another AP in Ustalav or make a AP that is full lovecraft (not just a bit of lovecraft like Carrion crown)???????????(Yes.
I've wanted to a big full-on Lovecraft AP ever since the first one.
And one day it will happen.
Ustalav is a natural location to set some, if not all, of such an AP. I suspect if I do a Lovecraft AP it'll not stay in Ustalav—Lovecraft's stories had lots of travel to exotic locations in them after all.
What are the chances that this theoretical AP would travel to R'lyeh?
Also: how exactly are changelings different from humans? Say they didn't have mismatched eye color; what exactly about them could people tell they are not entirely human?
|
Creative Director
|
James could you comment on this homebrew team work feat.
New Feat
Side by Side
Category Team Work
You and your partner or animal companion have mastered the art of Side by Side fighting.
Benefit: when you and your partner who also as this feat [this would also include your animal companion] are Side by side facing an opponent. The Opponent gains the Flanked condition.
You gain +2 to hit vs. your opponent +4 if you have the Out flank feat. Whenever you or your companion score a critical hit against the flanked target the other gains an opportunity attack vs. the flanked target.Prerequsites: +4 BAB, Out Flank
I could... but I won't. I prefer not to provide feedback to design work, both for time-management reasons and legal reasons. Might I suggest posting the feat to one of the rules forums for feedback?
|
Creative Director
|
Hi, me again. I am a big carrion crown fan (even though I never played it yet, only bought the AP), do you think you might make another AP in Ustalav or make a AP that is full lovecraft (not just a bit of lovecraft like Carrion crown)???????????(Yes.
I've wanted to a big full-on Lovecraft AP ever since the first one.
And one day it will happen.
Ustalav is a natural location to set some, if not all, of such an AP. I suspect if I do a Lovecraft AP it'll not stay in Ustalav—Lovecraft's stories had lots of travel to exotic locations in them after all.
What are the chances that this theoretical AP would travel to R'lyeh?
Also: how exactly are changelings different from humans? Say they didn't have mismatched eye color; what exactly about them could people tell they are not entirely human?
Those chances are very small. I have other mythos cities I'm more eager to explore than R'lyeh.
You could look at her hands and note that her nails were strong and sharp enough to rip a hole in your belly, for one...
|
If a player or players in a campaign you are GMing is having jealousy issues with the class/es another player/s is playing, how would you try to resolve it?
Example, the rogue and wizard players calling out that the summoner/warpriest/arcanist/barb, etc character another player is playing is too "over-powered".
Would you try to get them to understand each other?
Draw up situations in the campaign that highlighting each class benefits to the party?
Facepalm yourself and remembered that you should have restrict certain classes in the first place? :P
|
Creative Director
|
Hey James, I have some questions about Lirgen:
-Prior to the whole drowning-in-a-hurricane thing, what were the dominant languages spoken there? If adventurers were to plunder the depths of a Lirgen observatory, what would the journal of a Saoc Brethren be written in? I know Saoc himself came from Rahadoum, but I don't know how much of that culture he brought with him.
-What was the nation of Lirgen's alignment?
-Lastly, it is noted in a few sources that aberrations are dangerously common in the modern Sodden Lands. What kind of aberrations are we talking? I know skum inhabit some of the drowned cities, but that was all I could find.
Thanks!
Polyglot and Osiriani and Common for the most part.
Not sure, but I'd guess probably lawful neutral.
All sorts, from skum on up to aboleths on up to froghemoths back down to chuuls and cloakers and more.
|
Creative Director
|
If a player or players in a campaign you are GMing is having jealousy issues with the class/es another player/s is playing, how would you try to resolve it?
Example, the rogue and wizard players calling out that the summoner/warpriest/arcanist/barb, etc character another player is playing is too "over-powered".
Would you try to get them to understand each other?
Draw up situations in the campaign that highlighting each class benefits to the party?
Facepalm yourself and remembered that you should have restrict certain classes in the first place? :P
That's a hard thing to solve. It'd depend on the situation. I've been in games before where this has happened, in large part because the underpowered player is just not into optimizing and wants to roleplay, and the optimizer super numbercrunches a badass character. I tried to skew the game to feature more roleplay to appeal to the first player, and did, but even then he remained frustrated that when combat did happen, the optimized character dominated. I talked to the optimizer and even had him change characters in one game... but in the end, the player who wasn't into the rules left the campaign and, indeed, left Pathfinder.
Which is really too bad. Sometimes, optimizers can be bad for the game in that way.
Optimizers have caused me to remove from play a fair amount of options in this way over the years.
Hi, me again. I am a big carrion crown fan (even though I never played it yet, only bought the AP), do you think you might make another AP in Ustalav or make a AP that is full lovecraft (not just a bit of lovecraft like Carrion crown)???????????(Yes.
I've wanted to a big full-on Lovecraft AP ever since the first one.
And one day it will happen.
Ustalav is a natural location to set some, if not all, of such an AP. I suspect if I do a Lovecraft AP it'll not stay in Ustalav—Lovecraft's stories had lots of travel to exotic locations in them after all.
What are the chances that this theoretical AP would travel to R'lyeh?
Also: how exactly are changelings different from humans? Say they didn't have mismatched eye color; what exactly about them could people tell they are not entirely human?
Those chances are very small. I have other mythos cities I'm more eager to explore than R'lyeh.
You could look at her hands and note that her nails were strong and sharp enough to rip a hole in your belly, for one...
-Fair enough, though I think Paizo would be the best folks to "redeem" Cthulhu and make him actually scary. It seems that, aside from Lovecraft's actual classics, Cthulhu himself is something of a joke. Not as much as, say, the Xenomorph, who is undoubtedly the most tragically de-clawed creature in history, but his name invokes everything BUT fear.
-Also fair enough. Although wouldn't it be easy just to cut them? Maybe, er, not, I suppose.
Can the axiomite Godmind grant cleric spells? The protean Speakers of the Depths? The Oinodaemon?Godmind probably can. The Speakers of the Depths absolutely can. The Oinodaemon could at one point, but hasn't done so in a long, long, long time.
I eagerly look forward to seeing the crunch for those deities come to fruition. Oh, and I bet the Oinodaemon is eagerly waiting for his plans to come into motion, then he'll start granting spells again...
1) What happened to the Primal Inevitables? ISG says "few of them still remain". Did they get Chaos'ed to death?
2) Do psychopomps team up with celestials to fight pro-undead deities like Urgathoa and Orcus?
3) What happens if you're on your aligned plane (Like a CE person in the Abyss) and die there? Bam, instant larva?
4)Is the reason why we haven't seen more Kyton Demagogue content for fear of readers thinking, "Dude, these are just other versions of Zon-Kuthon!"
5) How do Ragathiel and Vildeis regard each other?
6) Does Iomedae attend a war council alongside Ragathiel, Arqueros, Vildeis, Dammereich, and others?
7) How does Iomedae regard Ragathiel and the other "militant" LG empyreals? And vice versa?
10) Among humans, dwarves, elves and such, is there ever a desire to "Just kill 'em all!" toward Orcs and Hobgoblins? If not a Guilt Free Extermination War, how do "civilized" species typically treat "bad guy" type species when they defeat them in wars? My campaign had a human soldier in a hobgoblin jail loudly ranting about how he was going to end their whole species. The party kicked the crap out of him.
Hi James!
My first question here i think :)
1) You mentioned earlier, some time ago i admit, in this massive thread, that you are/where GM'ing a Necropolis campaign (as in Gary Gygax'module/setting) set in Osirion.
I find this massively interesting! I LOVE Necropolis and have been wanting to run it as a campaign for some time (have a current homebrew sandbox/megadungeon campaign to wrap up first, in its 55th session right now).
My questions are: Have you converted Necropolis to Pathfinder (i guess uou have)? Or have your found/know of an existing conversion?
And can you share any advice/experience from running Necropolis in Pathfinder rules? In fact any more info/recollections about your Necropolis campaign would be appreciated!! :)
2) A similar question, regarding your Temple of the Elemental Evil campaign. Have you converted it to Parthfinder - or are you using AD&D? - and what are your experiences running the Temple? (and could you point to existing/own conversions of the Temple)
3) I would of course be very interested if you could share some of your own actual converted material from these (mega)modules... (though i'm wary to ask/suggest this, and unsure if you would violate copyright etc by doing so)
Thanks a lot for your time, and awesome thread!
Hail, mighty dire Tyrannosaurus!
Again I beseech thy wisdom
In my Way of the Wicked Campaign I got a witch ready for her first evil template. The choices she gets are either the Worm that walks template or the new mummy lord template (scarab infested version). Glory to the horn of Abaddon!
However, one of her favourite buff is threefold aspect, a spell that allows you, basycally, to aging and deaging yourself gaining various bonuses.
I searched a lot in the messageboards, but was unable to find suggestions about how to relate this spell to such drastic change of condiction (the undead and aberration/swarm creature type).
Should the spell still work? And if so, how?
Will she become a younger/older mummy or a worm that walks made of tiny scarab larvae?
Hi James,
If a Bard is using a Perform (Oratory) bonus to make a Diplomacy check, and has an ability that lets him re-roll Diplomacy checks, can he use it? What about if he has an ability that lets him re-roll Perform checks? In other words, is he making a 'perform check' or a 'diplomacy check'?
Will you join the sacred order of Holey cheese (free Swiss)
|
|
Evil cults in Golarion often have thematically linked monsters that they use as lackeys. For example...
The Whispering Way use undead
The Technic League uses robots (or is it the other way around??!!?!?!)
Blackfire Adepts use assorted evil outsiders
Old Cults use Mythos beasties
Evil churches use creatures associated with their godSo now my question: Is there a "type" of monster that the Night Heralds make use of?
Thanks for any insight!
If it was 3.5 I would say moonbeasts, but since it's pathfinder I don't know. Maybe leng spiders???
James,
1) I've been looking for a region to put a babylonian/sumerian inspired place in my Golarion. Recently, I've found about fallen Ninshabur and thought that its ruins could work well for a dungeon based around the themes of those cultures.
Is there another place in Golarion that you think would be a better fit for a Babylonian/sumerian analogue?
2) Where in Golarion do you think arcanists (as in the new class from ACG)could have a long established tradition? Not necessarily where they would be common (because I have a feeling that they wouldn't be common anywhere), but a place that could have a history of continually producing them, even if in small scale.
|
Creative Director
|
-Fair enough, though I think Paizo would be the best folks to "redeem" Cthulhu and make him actually scary. It seems that, aside from Lovecraft's actual classics, Cthulhu himself is something of a joke. Not as much as, say, the Xenomorph, who is undoubtedly the most tragically de-clawed creature in history, but his name invokes everything BUT fear.
-Also fair enough. Although wouldn't it be easy just to cut them? Maybe, er, not, I suppose.
-Cthulhu doesn't need redemption. He's got plenty of awesome and scary going on already.
|
Creative Director
|
Could a wereboar-kin skinwalker avoid superstitious mobs by claiming he's just an unusually pink half-orc and that his bestial transformations are some sort of barbarian totem power he uses in battle?
With a series of kick-ass Bluff and Disguise checks, I suppose so.
Although in a society who's superstitious about wereboars... I"m not sure how much more accepting they'll be of a half orc who turns into a pig when he gets barbarian-mad.
|
Creative Director
|
Can the axiomite Godmind grant cleric spells? The protean Speakers of the Depths? The Oinodaemon?Godmind probably can. The Speakers of the Depths absolutely can. The Oinodaemon could at one point, but hasn't done so in a long, long, long time.I eagerly look forward to seeing the crunch for those deities come to fruition. Oh, and I bet the Oinodaemon is eagerly waiting for his plans to come into motion, then he'll start granting spells again...
1) What happened to the Primal Inevitables? ISG says "few of them still remain". Did they get Chaos'ed to death?
2) Do psychopomps team up with celestials to fight pro-undead deities like Urgathoa and Orcus?
3) What happens if you're on your aligned plane (Like a CE person in the Abyss) and die there? Bam, instant larva?
4)Is the reason why we haven't seen more Kyton Demagogue content for fear of readers thinking, "Dude, these are just other versions of Zon-Kuthon!"
5) How do Ragathiel and Vildeis regard each other?
6) Does Iomedae attend a war council alongside Ragathiel, Arqueros, Vildeis, Dammereich, and others?
7) How does Iomedae regard Ragathiel and the other "militant" LG empyreals? And vice versa?
10) Among humans, dwarves, elves and such, is there ever a desire to "Just kill 'em all!" toward Orcs and Hobgoblins? If not a Guilt Free Extermination War, how do "civilized" species typically treat "bad guy" type species when they defeat them in wars? My campaign had a human soldier in a hobgoblin jail loudly ranting about how he was going to end their whole species. The party kicked the crap out of him.
1) Nothing happened to them. They're just small in number and haven't been detailed by us yet.
2) Sometimes, yes, but most psychopomps don't trust most celestials to remain impartial when it comes to making tough choices.
3) Your soul goes to the Boneyard to be judged, same as if you die anywhere else.
4) No.
5) Dunno. Probably as competitors.
6) No. Iomedae isn't an Empyreal Lord, and has other things to do with her time.
7) Probably with a lot of respect.
8) There is no 8.
9) 9 was eaten by 8, I suppose.
10) Among some folk, yes. Those are not likely to be staunch good folks though. I'm not sure a "Guilt-free Extermination war" is something that could even exist. At least, not in my mind.
|
Creative Director
|
Hi James!
My first question here i think :)
1) You mentioned earlier, some time ago i admit, in this massive thread, that you are/where GM'ing a Necropolis campaign (as in Gary Gygax'module/setting) set in Osirion.I find this massively interesting! I LOVE Necropolis and have been wanting to run it as a campaign for some time (have a current homebrew sandbox/megadungeon campaign to wrap up first, in its 55th session right now).
My questions are: Have you converted Necropolis to Pathfinder (i guess uou have)? Or have your found/know of an existing conversion?
And can you share any advice/experience from running Necropolis in Pathfinder rules? In fact any more info/recollections about your Necropolis campaign would be appreciated!! :)2) A similar question, regarding your Temple of the Elemental Evil campaign. Have you converted it to Parthfinder - or are you using AD&D? - and what are your experiences running the Temple? (and could you point to existing/own conversions of the Temple)
3) I would of course be very interested if you could share some of your own actual converted material from these (mega)modules... (though i'm wary to ask/suggest this, and unsure if you would violate copyright etc by doing so)
Thanks a lot for your time, and awesome thread!
1) I generally convert the encounters on the fly. In many cases, this means entirely re-writing or rebuilding them from scratch. I have a small collection of some of the more complex monsters converted over to Pathfinder statblocks, but others I do on the fly or file the flavor off existing monsters and use them instead. Necropolis is oozing with flavor, and I suggest keeping as much of the flavor as you can. The encounters often need work... for example in the last game, the PCs found a room with a CR 3 snake in it. They're 16th level/tier 1 characters, and that's more or less the appropriate strength for PCs at this point, so a CR 3 snake fight is lame. So I turned it into a First World infused purple worm instead.
2) I'm running the 1st edition AD&D version of Temple of Elemental Evil, but with pathfinder rules. I'm not changing ANY of the treasure or encounters. If the adventure says there's a room with 9 bugbears, that's what the 2nd level PCs fight. So far, they've had no deaths, but several close calls. (There's 7 players in the group and they have pretty powerful characters, of course...)
3) Sharing the material is indeed against copyright. Not that I have material to share, really, since I do most of the conversions in my head or during game play, using stat blocks either built by hand or, more often, borrowed from our books. The players can't tell the difference between a hand-built 9th level fighter and a 9th level fighter borrowed from an Adventure Path or NPC Codex, after all.
|
Creative Director
|
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
James how would you envision a CE bard with charisma 20+ with the lovesick drawback would act around their object of affection?
In a very creepy way. Possibly in a criminal way. As in, "Here are the tongues of five beautiful women—I gathered them for you to show you how their voices are but rasping croaks that impugn upon the clarion purity of your dulcet tones, my beloved, and to show you that the laws of land and morality have no hold on my love for you."
|
Creative Director
|
Hail, mighty dire Tyrannosaurus!
Again I beseech thy wisdomIn my Way of the Wicked Campaign I got a witch ready for her first evil template. The choices she gets are either the Worm that walks template or the new mummy lord template (scarab infested version). Glory to the horn of Abaddon!
However, one of her favourite buff is threefold aspect, a spell that allows you, basycally, to aging and deaging yourself gaining various bonuses.
I searched a lot in the messageboards, but was unable to find suggestions about how to relate this spell to such drastic change of condiction (the undead and aberration/swarm creature type).
Should the spell still work? And if so, how?
Will she become a younger/older mummy or a worm that walks made of tiny scarab larvae?
The spell shouldn't work when you get those templates. Not all spells are meant to be great choices for worms and mummies.
|
Creative Director
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hi James,
If a Bard is using a Perform (Oratory) bonus to make a Diplomacy check, and has an ability that lets him re-roll Diplomacy checks, can he use it? What about if he has an ability that lets him re-roll Perform checks? In other words, is he making a 'perform check' or a 'diplomacy check'?
Rules as written, no, he can't.
Rules as they SHOULD have been written, yes he can. It's best to treat a versatile performance check as the skill in question AND as the perform skill in question; let the bard make the better choice for the result at the time. It's supposed to be versatile, after all.
|
Creative Director
|
How does the Area of Effect work when imbue arrow uses spell with an area of a line or a cone? Burst or emanation is no problem as the target would naturally be the center of said effect. But the description of the ability states, "the spell's area is centered where the arrow lands" missing negates the spell. Is this implied to mean that the target is now the point of origin of the spell? Or does it mean that the target is the center of the area as the description states? In the case of a line spell would the spell emanate equal distances in two directions effectively making the target the "center of the spell effect," or does this mean that the spell's origin now begins at that target and emanates in one direction for the spell's range? This gets even more confusing when considering a cone effect. Are we to understand that the "center of the spell effect" is somewhere half the distance from the origin and the extent of a cone spell? How do Ellipses work if I place the point of origin at a 45 degree angle to the ground? Or, do we again imply that the target becomes the point of origin of the spell, and the cone extends out from that point?
Being a pretty insanely detailed rules question with possible PFS influence/affects, that question needs to stay in that thread so it can be FAQed.
|
Creative Director
|
Also will something reveal more about the dominion of the black, the night heralds and what is controlling zon-kuthon
Dominion of the Black: Iron Gods, particularly part 4.
Night Heralds: nothing new planned at this moment.
Zon-Kuthon: he's not being controlled at all. He was changed, but he's his own thing.
|
Creative Director
|
Evil cults in Golarion often have thematically linked monsters that they use as lackeys. For example...
The Whispering Way use undead
The Technic League uses robots (or is it the other way around??!!?!?!)
Blackfire Adepts use assorted evil outsiders
Old Cults use Mythos beasties
Evil churches use creatures associated with their godSo now my question: Is there a "type" of monster that the Night Heralds make use of?
Thanks for any insight!
Yes. The Night Heralds serve the Dominion of the Black, and they often use monsters associated with that group. The easy way to answer that is to say they use lots of aberrations. But if you want more details... Part 4 of Iron Gods will have lots to offer about the Dominion.